Tough Task for Lazio, Tricky draw for Udinese in Europa League

byGuest PostonDecember 16, 2011

Lazio and Udinese faces different challenges in their Europa League campaign as a very tough match awaits the Biancolesti with Atletico Madrid arrives as challenger while the Friulani picked up a lighter draw against PAOK Salonika.

The capital club will obviously give their best if they still want to continue their European journey as Atletico are a quality side despite can really be very inconsistent, as for Francesco Guidolin’s team, concentration must remain high although their opponent supposedly isn’t that strong on paper.

On paper, Lazio can simply match up Atletico’s squad but Edy Reja’s team focus in the competition remains the big question as they rarely played with their best line up in the group stage. The Spaniard themselves already had a taste of Italian football in their previous group matches as they were in the same group with Udinese, so Radamel Falcao and co obviously know what type of challenge they can expect against the Biancocelesti.

Meanwhile, Udinese must not take things too lightly against PAOK as the Greek outfit can always provide problem for Guidolin’s team, especially since the Friulani often played with their second string players in the competition. On paper, it’s a pretty good chance for the Bianconeri to advance into the next round and improve the European coefficient points for Italian teams, which pretty much becomes the mission of Serie A representatives in the competition.

Both Lazio and Udinese have fair chance in advancing to the next stage where difficult match ups have already awaits them as the capital club will meet either Braga or Besiktas if Reja’s team managed to overcome Atletico. As for Guidolin’s team, one of Az Alkmaar or Anderletch are set to be their next opponent should the Friulani excapes PAOK’s challenge in the last 32.